Winner
by SwampTreader
Summary: He had always let her win, but now he wasn't sure he could beat her.


It had been nearly a year since he'd seen her. And my, how she'd grown. It came as quite a shock for eighteen year-old Loka to see his childish best-friend replaced by a curvy, beautiful young woman. "Korra!" He called gleefully, dropping his bag in the snow, running towards the young Avatar with open arms.

"I missed you, Loka! I was starting to think you'd never come back," she joked wrapping her arms around him. The two had been the very best of friends ever since they could walk, rather, since Korra could walk, given that Loka was two years older than her. The young man had been away at the sister tribe for a year to train under a master swordsmen whom had been taught personally by Master Sokka. And now, Loka was back.

"I've got some killer skills under my belt now, Korra, you'll never win," he smirked.

"I don't know about that, you can't even begin to imagine the brutality of mastering fire bending," the young woman responded with a laugh.

"Well, we'll just have to see about that. But, I have to see my family first and then we'll see who's the better player," he grinned.

"So what? I'll meet you before dusk?"

"See you there."

And so after visiting his family for the majority of the day he headed to his and Korra's battleground. It was a wide-open flat plane of snow surrounded loosely by outcroppings of ice and rock. Loka was stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Korra bending a vine of water around her body and above her head. And then in one lightening fast, smooth motion, she returned the water back to the ground, spun in a fiery kick and stomped a flat of rock up in front of her.

Loka gulped and let the tip of the sword he held drop into the snow. He had always let her win, but now, he wasn't sure he could beat her. But he wasn't going to let her know that. "Ready to lose?" He smiled.

"The real question is, are you?" Korra grinned evilly. Loka reached where she was standing and held his sword at the perfect angle to his body, ready to strike and block in a split second. Korra cracked her knuckles and slid her feet apart, and set her shoulders, her hands delicately and yet dangerously placed along the curves of her body. She would be able to create and direct fire or water in this stance. And Loka knew it.

He was prepared for a blast of fire the instant before it came. He ducked out of the way and sliced the flames with his sword, blocking the left side his face. He charged forward with light feet and barley missed slamming the blade against her armored belly by mere inches. He was impressed, she had finally grown out of her slow reaction time. He raised his eyebrows and danced around her smiling. She turned on her heel and sent a whip of water towards his feet. He leapt over it like an antelope-goat and landed squarely a few inches back.

Korra grinned and sent him dodging sideward with a chunk of rock hurtling towards him. "You sure have learned a lot in the last year," he grinned, finding his center again. He danced under streams of fire and water until he was back-to-back with her. She worked tirelessly to get around in front of him, but he could feel her movements before she even executed him. He had learned how to read and opponent and predict what they would do next, and it was coming in handy in this friendly sparring match. He jabbed her in the ribs with his elbow, sending her stumbling and he took the chance to leap onto her back and drag her to the ground. Surely she would be rendered helpless here.

They tumbled head over heels until they landed in a jumbled mess. Loka was about to pin her when he saw her grin and jam her elbow into the ground. A square of earth sprung up under him and sent him flying. He landed and rolled, trying desperately to find his feet again. "Good job, Korra," he laughed as he got on his feet and brought the gleaming sword at a downwards angle to his body, he free arm bent in closely at the same angle.

"I know," she smiled just before throwing an orb of flame at him. He ducked under it and in his lowered vision saw her feet spread out and square up. An earth bending attack was coming. He faked left and then sprung to the right, the chunk of rock and ice just slamming upwards where he had previously been standing. He dove forward and rolled into a stand and rounded an arc, charging the young Avatar. She left the ground into a arcing kick. Fire was coming.

He brought his arms up in front of his face, making sure the flat of his blade would deflect most of the heat. The fire dissipated around him but the next footfall would come as a surprise to him. When Korra landed from the fire kick, she jammed her gloved fingers into the snow and before he had registered what she was doing he was flying through the air. He landed with a 'oof' and took a second too long to recover from the fall. He was sent shooting up into the air by another square of raised earth and then water blasted him in the face.

He felt suddenly cold and realized she had frozen him in place. He glowered at Korra as she strutted over, grinning and dusting her hands like it was nothing. "I'll give it to you Korra, you won this one."

"Like I always do," she said with a wave of her hand, bending the ice back into water and extracting the liquid from his clothes. Of course he would never tell her he had let her win for all those years when he easily could have defeated her in the early, awkward stages of her bending.

"I'm proud of you, Korra," he said, slinging an arm over her shoulders and tugging her close to his side. "You're going to be a great Avatar."

"You really think so?" She asked looking up at him, her blue eyes gleaming waiting hopefully for approval from one of the people she most looked up to. He gave her shoulders a squeeze and grinned.

"I really do, kid."


End file.
